Venetian blind



Dec. 26, 1950 M. J- NARDULLI VENETIAN BLIND Filed March 10, 1947 I! |xl FIGJ INVENTOR MICHAEL J. NARDULLI ki Mfg? FIG. 7

ATTORNEY I W g E Patented Dec. 26, 1950 VENETIAN BLIND Michael J. Nardulli, Chicago, 111., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Michael J. Nardulli, Angelo F. Naples, Peter F. Nardulli, and William H. Mozal, as trustees Application March 10, 1947, Serial No. 733,454

ZCIaims. I:

This, invention relates to Venetian blinds and particularly to Venetian blinds of the roller type wherein an upper spring roller frictionall-y supports the ladder tapes and serves asa drum to wind or unwind the elevating cords so as to thereby enable frictional contact of the roller with the ladder tapes to effect tilting of the slats of the blind while rotation of the drum is also effective by winding orunwinding of the cords to effect raising or lowering of the blind.

The roller type Venetian blinds of the general character to which the present invention relatesareillustrated in my prior patents, Nos. 2,209,- 234 and 2,401,770, while the Nardulli and Jacobson Patent No. 2,175,549 also shows aroller type Venetian blind in which a spring-type shade roller is employed as the supporting member. In all of the aforesaid patents, the blinds are provided with what maybe termed' tilting toe rails which a-iford weight which is effective to cause tilting of the slats in response to the fric t onal action of the roller upon the ladder tapes. Many situations are encountered wherein the use of a til-ting bottom rail or' toe rail: is. considered tobe undesirable, and where a nontilting toe rail has been used; considerable difliculty has been encountered in attaining proper closure of the blind. In other words; with such non-tlting toe rails, it has heretofore been: im possible to cause or attain tilting of the slats to a sufficient extent to effectually close the blind, and the primary object of the present inven tion is therefore to enable such full closure of the blindto be-readily attained.

A further and related object is to enable such full closure of a blind to be attained through the provision of a relatively simple structural relatonship which does not in any way increase thecost of the blinds.

Other and further objects. of the present invention will beapparent from the following de scription and claims and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, show a preferred embodiment and the principles thereof and what I now consider to be the best mode in which I have contemplated applying those principles. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles may beused and structural changes maybe made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present inventionand the purview of'the-appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. I is afragmentary perspective view a door having a Venetian blind embodying the 2 invention mounted in association with the window pane that is included in such door;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view' taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 4 and 5 are views similar to Fig. 3- which show the parts in different positions, and which also illustrate the end construction of the spring roller that supports the cords and the ladder tapes of the blind;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sideelevational view of the lefthand supporting bracket; and

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 1*4 of Fig. 6 and illustrating the structure of the shade roller.

For purposesof disclosure, the invention has been herein illustrated as embodied. in a Venetian blind l0 that is supported on the inner face of a. door H so as to extend: downwardly across a window opening l2 that is closed. by a window pane 13. The Venetian blind Ill embodies a spring roller 15 that is what may be termed a single-pawl, single-notchi shade roller having an ordinary cylindrical supporting pin it extendingfrom one end thereof and a flat. supporting pin l7 extending from the other end thereof. The supporting pins It and: H are carried in mount,- ing brackets I8 and t9 respectively that are secured by screws 2-0 to the door It above the: window opening I-2 thereof. In the present case the brackets I 8 and H3 are provided with vertically extended mounting: grooves 2| along their forward edges so that a facian board 22 may be carried in the brackets forwardly of the roller- I5. It will be, recognized, however, that the pins l6 and ll of the roller may besupported in conventional shade roller brackets when the use:

- rail 21 secured to the lower ends: thereof. Theladder tapes 25 serve to support a plurality of? slats 30 which as herein shown are of metal which has an arched cross sectional form to -impart strength thereto. The ladder tapes 25? have inner and outer bands 25A and 253 formed from fabric and connected at suitable intervals by ladder elements 25L which serve as supports for the respective slats 3B. The upper nds of the inner and outer bands. of the ladder tapes. are

Jo n d g ther as will bleevident in Figs. 3; 4a and 5 as by stitching or stapling 3|, and this forms a relatively large loop F at the upper end of each ladder tape 25 so that such loops may embrace and rest upon the spring roller :5. Thus upon rotation of the roller 15, a frictional action is attained between the roller l5 and the loops 25F of the ladder tapes 25, and this tends to tilt the slats as an incident to the rotation of the roller I5. The roller l5, as hereinbefore pointed out, is of the spring roller type and the fiat pin ll thereof is formed at the end of a spring supporting rod 35. As shown in Fig. 7 of the drawing, a spring 36 surrounding the rod within a chamber or bore 353 in the roller, has one end fixed to the rod 35 and the other end fixed to the roller so as to normally tend to rotat the roller in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 of the drawings. At the end of the roller E5, the rod 35 has a flange 38 formed thereon and this flange has a single notch 39 formed therein so that a pivoted control pawl or dog 46 on the nd of the roller may be engaged with the notch 55 to prevent rotation of the roller with respect to the rod 35. This dog is utilized in the present Venetian blind only when the blind is removed from the supporting brackets, and when the blind is mounted in such brackets, the notch 39 is disposed in a downwardly facing direction as will be evident in Figs. 4 and 5 so that the dog to will not engage the notch 35 at any time. Thus the spring roller 15 as utilized in th present Venetian blind constantly tends to rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, and this action is utilized in attaining the desired control of the tilting and elevating of the blind. Thus a pair of elevating cords 45 is provided and such cords are secured at one end to the roller I5 in positions beneath the respective loops 25F of the ladder tapes. The cords are then extended downwardly through relatively large openings 3UP formed in the slats 30 and the cords are connected at their opposite or lower ends to the upper edges of the non-tilting toe rail 27?. Thus the action of the spring roller l5 will normally tend to elevate the toe rail 27 so as to fully elevate the blind as indicated in Fig. 5 of the drawings, and the desired lowering of the blind and tilting of the slats of the blind is attained by raising or lowering the toe rail 2'5. Means are therefore provided for fixing the toe rail 2? in any desired vertical position, and as herein shown such means are also effective to hold the toe rail 27 against any appreciable tilting action. Thus as will be evident in the drawings, a bead chain 48 is connected to the lower edge of the toe rail 48 and centrally thereof, and a slotted anchoring bracket 49 is fixed on the door H below the lower edge of the window olpening l2. Thus upon vertical adjustment of the toe rail 2?, such adjustment may be maintained by merely looking the beads of the chain 58 in a fastening notch that is formed in the anchoring bracket 55. It will be evident that in the course of raising and lowering the toe rail 2i, the rotative movements of the roller l5 will impart endwis shifting to the loop 25F about the roller 55 and in the direction of rotation of the roller, and this causes tilting movement of the slats 35.

Under and in accordance with the present invention, th Venetian blind may be fully closed as will be evident in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and such closure is effective in a positive manner. Thus as will be evident in Figs. 2 to 5 of the drawings, the inner and outer bands 25A and 25B are secured to the toe rail 2? in a WW1 and highly advantageous manner or relationship which assures proper and complete closure of the blind when this is desired. Thus the outer ladder tape 21 is fixed as by tacks or staples at 52 to the outer face of the toe rail 21 while the inner ladder tape is fixed as by tacks or staples at 53 to the inner face of the toe rail 21, and the relative distances between the lowermost ladder element 25L and the points of connection of the inner and outer bands with the toe rail Zl constitutes an important and vital element in attaining the desired full and complete closure of the slats of the blind. Thus the band 253 is so connected to the toe rail 21 that the outer or adjacent end of the lowermost ladder element 25L is disposed at substantially the top of the toe rail 2?. In contrast to this, however, the connection of the other or inner band 25A is such that the portion 25Al of the band. 25A between the inner end of the lowermost ladder element 25L and the connection 53 is of such a length that the inner or adjacent end of the lowermost ladder element 25L may be raised upwardly above the upper edge of the toe rail 2? in an amount substantially equal to th width of the slats 35. Thus when the blind I0 is drawn downwardly as far as possible, the relatively short outer end connection 25B-i will be effective to positively draw the loop 25F about the roller l5, thereby to elevate the inner ends of the ladder elements 25L to the maximum possible extent. The short connection 25B[ is thus afforded on the sid of the blind where the cords 55 extend down from the roller l5, so that the downward pull on the band 25B augments or completes the tilting action that has been initiated by the frictional action of the roller l5 on the loops 25F. Thus the pull downwardly on the band 25B assures full closure of the blind, and yet the advantages of a roller blind construction are attained. Moreover, such full closure is attained in such a way that a nontilting toe rail may be employed.

Thus, while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that this is capable of variation and modification and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a Venetian blind, a pair of ladder tapes each including inner and outer bands and spaced ladder elements connecting said bands, a plurality of slats supported on the respective ladder elements of said tapes and having clearance openings therethrough in the space between said bands of said tapes, means for supporting and imparting tilting movements to said bands, a non-tilting toe rail, means including elevating cords attached to said toe rail for raising and lowering the blind, and means securing said inner and outer bands to opposite sides of said toe rail in a relation such that the lowermost ladder element of said tapes may be disposed with one end thereof at substantially the level of the top of said toe rail while the other ends of said such lowermost ladder elements may be disposed in an upward position spaced from the upper edge of said toe rail in an amount equal substantially to the width of said slats.

2. In a Venetian blind, a pair of ladder tapes each having inner and outer bands and transverse ladder elements extended between said bands at spaced intervals, means for supporting I- the upper ends of such bands and for imparting tilting movements thereto, a plurality of slats supported on the respective ladder elements and having openings therein disposed in the space between the bands of the respective ladder tapes, elevating cords extended downwardly through said openings in said slats, a toe rail to which the lower ends of said cords are secured, means connecting the bands of said ladder tapes on one side of the toe rail to said toe rail in such positions that the adjacent ends of the lowermost ladder elements are disposed at a predetermined elevation with respect to the top of said toe rail, means connecting the bands at the other sides of said ladder tapes to the other side of said toe rail in such a relation that the adjacent ends of the lowermost ladder elements may be disposed above said predetermined level in an amount substantially equal to the width of said slats, and means for holding said toe rail in any desired position of adjustment and against appreciable tilting.

MICHAEL J. NARDULLI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,898,940 Cooper Feb. 21, 1933 2,164,556 Udstad July 4, 1939 2,209,234 Nardulli July 23, 1940 

